Matthew Potter, his tavern and the Plain dealer

HISTORIC BRIDGETON

MATTHEW POTTER, HIS TAVERN
AND

THE PLAIN DEALER

F. Alan Palmer

Cumberland County
Historical Society

Digitized by

the Internet Archive

in 2015

https://archive.org/details/matthewpotterhisOOpalm

MATTHEW POTTER AND THE PLAIN DEALER

Cohansey Bridge, which in' 1765 became known by
the name of Bridgetown, may have been lacking in
many shops of general merchandise in the days before
the Revolution, but there was no dearth of taverns to
accomodate the needs of both the travelers and the
townspeople. It was at that time a village containing a
permanent population of no more than one hundred
and fifty men, women and children, representing
perhaps twenty-five to thirty households.

To the colonial male the local tavern was far more
than merely a place where he might quench his thirst,
it was his club. It was the place where local happenings
were discussed and, in the days before a local newspaper
was published, the source of information regarding the
happenings which had taken place in other colonies or
neighboring communities, and brought to Bridgetown
by travelers.

To be an innkeeper during the colonial era carried
with it a certain social distinction. The innkeepers were
the best informed and most widely acquainted men of
the town. Excerpts from the wording of a petition for
the licensing of a tavern gives an idea of the importance
such an establishment held in the minds of those whose
signatures supported the appUcation, ''We the subscriber
freeholders and inhabitants of the Township of Hope-
well, believing that a publick Inn or Tavern to be
necessary for the transaction of publick business, and
will be conducive to publick good for the accomo-

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dation of travelers, do recommend this man as a
suitable person to keep said Inn or Tavern, that he is
a man of good repute for honesty and sobriety ..."

Although required to have food as well as drink
available, the inn was by no means a restaurant. The
bill of fare usually consisted of meat, cheese and
generous slabs of crusty, freshly baked bread; very much
like that found in the rural EngUsh pubs of today.
During the winter months there might be added to the
menu, steaming bowls of a hearty meat and vegetable
soup or chowder.

In the typical household during the early days of
our country very little water was used as a beverage.
Taking its place was cider — hard cider — which had an
alcoholic content equal to that of beer. This drink,
which was served to even small children, was available
not only in taverns, but was made at home as well.
Philip Vickers Fithian records in his journal that for
the use of their very pious family, in a single season a
total of 750 gallons of cider was made as well as 15
barrels of ciderkin made by pouring water over the
mast left in the cider press after the first squeezing.
Rum and imported wines were stocked by every general
store for the convenience of the housewife who would
provide the jugs in which to take her purchase
home. Thus it was the convivial atmosphere of the bar
and the opportunity for meeting with friends which
attracted those who patronized Matthew Potter's tavern.

Matthew Potter was bom in 1734 in Ulster, Ireland
where his father, a Scotsman from Edinburgh, was

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engaged in the linen trade. Soon after Matthew's birth
Irish industries began to suffer because of restrictions
placed upon them by the British government. Harassed
beyond endurance, his parents, with sons Matthew,
James and John, emigrated to Connecticut in 1740;
a few months later they moved to Philadelphia where
another son, David, was born in 1745. It is not known
when Matthew and David came to Bridgetown from
Philadelphia, but Matthew set himself up in business
as a blacksmith and operated a tavern in his home.
David soon entered the mercantile trade buying and
selling grain, produce and lumber, eventually prosper-
ing to the degree that the commodities were shipped
to market in his own vessels.

Bridgetown in 1775 may have had as many as four
ordinaries or taverns, some of which catered primarily
to the woodcutters, a rough group of men whose
occupation was harvesting the timber which was then
shipped from Bridgetown to the markets of Phila-
delphia. Other inns served the needs of the hunters
and trappers, all representing a different social strata
than those who patronized the tavern adjacent to the
court house.

The home and tavern of Matthew Potter was located
on the north side of Broad Street, just opposite the
entrance to the court house which then stood in the
middle of Broad Street, and west of the diagonal
road leading down to the Commerce Street bridge. It
would appear to have been an ideal location for a

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public house, and C.E. Sheppard describes it as "the
principal inn of the town." Certainly, in 1775 it had
become the favored gathering place for a group of
young gentlemen who bore the names of some of the
most prominent families of Cumberland County.

Among those who frequented Potter's place of
entertainment were several of the young men who the
previous year had participated in the burning of
the English tea at Greenwich, as well as Joseph
Bloomfield, the lawyer who had defended them in
court. From today's view, the majority of these men
would be considered to be intellectual activists who
later demonstrated the sincerity of their convictions
on the battle fields of the Revolution. The fact that he
permitted the PLAIN DEALER to be displayed and
read in his bar, placed Matthew Poiter in personal
danger in the days preceding the Revolution. A
hazzard accentuated by the fact that his establishment
was situated at the very doors of the court house which
represented the enforcement of the laws enacted under
the rule of King George Ul. The stocks and pillory
which had been erected in Broad Street near the north
end of the court house were an ever-present reminder
of the punishment meted out to those who transgressed
that law, as was the whipping post also located nearby.

Very little is known about Matthew Potter other than
the fame which has accrued to him as the owner of the
tavern on Broad Street in which during 1 775-76 several
young men, representing some of the leading families
of the area, met regularly to read and discuss the latest

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issue of the PLAIN DEALER. C.E. Sheppard merely
states, "He was a blacksmith, and afterwards owned the
lot at the southeast corner of Laurel and Washington
Streets, extending half way to Pearl, and had a shop on
the upper part of it. He was a man of very respectable
standing." This would indicate that after he abandoned
his career as an innkeeper, at some unspecified time, he
moved his blacksmith shop to another location and
devoted his time solely to that trade. He was the father
of six children, but his two sons never married and
therefore the family name was not carried on to the
next generation.

One of Matthew's daughters, Jane, born in Phila-
delphia, in 1788 at the age of 17, married David Bo wen
and had one child, Harriet, who became the wife of
Ephraim Holmes, the grandson of Ephraim Seeley, the
owner of the mills at East Lake. Following the death of
her husband, in 1798 Jane remarried, this time to
become the third wife of Smith Bo wen, the owner of
considerable land on the west side of the Cohansey
River as well as the hotel which had been the former
mansion of John Moore White, on the comer of
Commerce and Laurel Streets. In 1816, when plans
were under way for the establishment of the Cumber-
land Bank, it was advertised that subscriptions would
be received at "Smith Bowen's Hotel." Smith Bowen
had been associated with Ephraim Seeley and James
Lee in the construction of what was later known as
TumbUng Dam at the north of the town, and in 1815
sold the land and water rights to David and Benjamin

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Reeves who then buUt the Nail Works on that property.

The conclusion may therefore be drawn that although
Matthew Potter never became as socially prominent, nor
nearly as wealthy as his younger brother, Colonel David
Potter, he nevertheless was considered to be a substan-
tial member of the growing community at Bridgetown.
He died in 1808 at the age of 74.

Potter's Tavern, which many years before had been
converted into a two-family dwelling and then allowed
to deteriorate to an advanced state of dilapidation, was
saved from demolition, largely through the efforts of the
late J. Meade Landis, a local historian, and in 1958 was
purchased by the City of Bridge ton. The building was
renovated and restored under the supervision of the late
G. Edwin Brumbaugh, a noted restoration architect and
today is open to the public, appearing much as it did
when occupied by Matthew Potter.

THE PLAIN DEALER

Potter's Tavern achieved its position as a landmark of
historic America through the means of a public notice
which on December 21, 1775 was conspicuously posted
in places throughout the county where it might be read
and acted upon. The first paragraph of that notice is as
follows:

"As the circumstances of the times loudly call for
every individual to exert himself for the good of
his Country and fellow creatures, several persons
whose genius & inclination for many years past
have led them to Study and contemplation, have

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concluded, that the most Important Service that
they can render to Society, wiM be to communicate
- Weekly, to their neighbors the result of their
enquiries and Speculations on political occurrances
and other important Subjects particularly calcu-
lated to suit this place-".
The notice further advised that since there was no press
to print the articles received, they would be transcribed
by a Secretary and could be read at Matthew Potter's
Bar each Tuesday morning and might be copied there
by anyone wishing to take them home fo« further study,

*'the Secretary being under Obligations to keep
the names of the persons who wrote the peices
secret, those that desire it, may communicate
their sentiments to the public witnout the incon-
venience of being known or personally critecised."

William Nelson, in 1894, arranged to have the
existing copies of the PLAIN DEALER, (at that time
in the possession of a Bridge ton family), privately
printed. In his introduction Mr. Nelson stated, "In its
contents, it is evident that the original aim of the
Bridgeton News-Letter was to imitate the 'Spectator'
and other London publications, which in polished
essays cleverly hit off the foibles of the day. To this
was added the more serious purpose of arousing and
stimulating the patriotism of the people."

In preparation for the celebration of the 200th
anniversary of the founding of our nation, arrangements
were made to have Mr. Nelson's publication reprinted.
J. Meade Landis, a member of the Bridgeton Bicenten-

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nial Committee, in a foreword addressed to the readers,
stated that the editor was Ebenezer Ekner who at that
time was 23 years old, a native of Fairfield, a tea burner,
and who later distinguished himself as a soldier and
statesman, as well as in later years, as a public
benefactor.

The only existing copy of the PLAIN DEALER is
now in the rare book collection of the library at
Rutgers, The State University, and itself is a copy of
eight of the numbers which had once been posted in
Matthew Potter's tavern. This copy, which was handed
down in the Harris family, bears the inscription,
'Thomas Harris his hand & pen wrote with my Blood
the 1st Sept 1776."

The secrecy promised those who contributed articles
to the PLAIN DEALER was well preserved. Today it is
not known who were the authors, other than it would
appear that Ebenezer Elmer wrote the eulogy of General
Montgomery, in the seventh number, as well as the
address to Captain Bloomfield's company in the eighth
number. Other writers no doubt included Joseph
Bloomfield, Richard and Lewis Howell and possibly
Dr. Jonathan Elmer.

It is not known how long the PLAIN DEALER was
written, but it is quite possible that the eight numbers
which have been preserved constitute the entire output
since the events leading up to the Revolution in 1776
no doubt demanded the attention of its contributors to
the exclusion of writing weekly essays.

F.A. Palmer

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